We lose ourselves in books, we find ourselves there too.

-Anonymous

Wintersong is aptly named as any book could ever be. More than a book, it is truly a long elegant poem filled with yearning and pain.

Liesl is plain, the first child to innkeepers with a musically talented younger brother and a beautiful sister. Who would look at Liesl when her siblings are the eye of famous maestros and all the men in town. However, unbeknownst to anyone save her siblings, Liesl is a genius composer. But to everyone, she is never good enough. Just as her life truly loses purpose, the Goblin King, a mythical beast whom she once imagined playing with in her young days appears, offering her both salvation and damnation in the shape of kidnapping her sister. If she loses the game, she is to be the bride of the goblin king, damned to live underground forever with this enigmatic austere myth. If she wins, she gets both her sister and her precious music back. His agenda in erking Elisabeth, however, may not be as cruel as she imagines. ​It is hard to write a proper review of Wintersong. The story itself-no- but the writing, the poetry brought tears to my eyes not once, but three times throughout the novel. It was beautiful and I did not think I could cry for sorrow written so beautifully. Not because it was so sad. but because it was so beautifully written the yearning, pain, and redemption was described.

We see Liesl, a girl, change into Elisabeth, a woman by the hands of the Goblin King. we see her grow, learning the beauty and ugliness that lies within her, but at least it is learning. She slowly stops hiding behind the shadow of her siblings and reading about the journey was amazing.

I LOVED the first half, but the second half was rather meh. First of all, I hate love triangles. They cause unnecessary drama and I'd prefer to spend time getting to know the characters rather than watch them make idiots or themselves in what is a fabulous display of angst and pining. Ugh.

Once Liam left, I felt like the story picked up. The romance between Alix and Erik as well as the military and political action. The moment Liam comes back, the story ceases to be about the bloody war they are fighting and focuses on the romance. Needless to say I felt like I saw one Love story flourish and grow, while the other was just there and we are told it is there. No.

I had EXTREMELY high expectations for this book, and while it wasn't bad- it didn't exactly deliver as much as the synopsis promised.

It really felt like An Ember in the Ashes copy cat:

-Terrible Empire-Select people with hidden faces feet -Said select people in line to be the next emporer-Simple female main character who joins rebellion
-Best friend of male MC is a girl in love with him who must do evil things-Female main character and male meet and really don't have that much interaction-Female kind of forced into rebellion so she can help her family.

Does it sound familiar? Does it? Does it? Except, there were too many minor details and not enough surprises and action shots. Will I read the next book? Honestly I don't know. Probably not. I can read an Ember in the Ashes if I want this plot.

Before ABOVAM, I DNFed 5 books. It was terrible and I thought my world was ending.

Diamond is a ousted half-fae that has lived in a small village her whole life with her father. I believe this gif accurately sum's up her life pretty well: ​

In comes her adventure when the fae queen's minions swoop in and kill her father- with an attempt to kill her as well. It is only the Queen's guard, Hugo, that saves her from a dire fate. Why? She doesn't know...and neither does she for that matter.

Hugo has always done as his queen asks. That changes when he defies her to save Diamond's life. He knows he must bring her in front of his queen to face judgement for being half-fae, but instead he desires to protect her and watch her grow. He must choose between following orders from his Queen or helping Diamond, a slit of a girl who he barely knows. Though, his bonds pull him in different directions and his choices may not really be choices as at all.